Survive
by Bitter Taste of Life
Summary: Kiba and his pack are still looking for "Paradise". They are struggling to survive in a frozen wasteland, when they come across another wolf. A female wolf. She is invited to join the pack but Kiba knows she's hiding something. You would too if she smelled of Lunar Flowers. The five wolves make it into the modern world, but will they be able to survive this new environment?
1. Blood on the Snow

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters or the anime/manga that this story is based off of.I only own my OC. No copyright infringement intended.

_-The Pack-_

**"I'm so hungry." **a young boy around sixteen complained, his stomach growling loudly in protest to the lack of food. A thick mop of light brown hair lay windblown atop of his head due to the raging winds around him. His orange sweatshirt rippled angrily in the stinging stabs air.

**"Shut it! No one needs to hear your whining."** snapped a male voice from the front of the small group of five. His stomach betrayed his own hunger, emitting a sound not unlike Hige's. Gray paws thrust themselves toward to the nearest rock and a lean gray body flopped into the thin snow, a pink tongue lolling out of the mouth periodically in a slight pant.

**"Come on, Tsume. We know you're hungry too." **a slightly naval voice stated from the outskirts of the group. Red brown fur was becoming more and more visible as the snow and wind decreased greatly, slowly coming to a stop. He was incredibly scrawny, barely bigger than a pup, his nose twitching. He had caught a scent on the wind.

**"Well, I know I am. And I smell something!"** he exclaimed, trying to locate the scent. He wasn't quite sure whether the smell was human, wolf, or possible dinner. The lunar flower scent of Cheza was messing with his nose.

A snow white wolf raised his head uncertaintly from where it laid on the flower maiden's leg, knocking her hand off of his muzzle. Cheza's scent was confusing his smell also. **"I think it's food." **he supplied, hopping lightly to his feet.

Cheza rose beside him, almost seeming to her float up.

**"Do you smell it, Tsume?" ** Kiba, the white wolf, asked Tsume, who was nowhere to be seen. **"Tsume?"** Kiba looked around and cursed under his breath.** "That mutt went to make the kill."**

Hige stood up, his tan pelt replacing his orange sweatshirt now.**"Well, I'm not going to let him take the first bite so I'll kill it before him."** he growled, though not entirely playing. He darted off after the strange smell and Tsume's scent, his paws throwing up white snow behind , leaving a flurry of snow dust in Toboe and Kiba's eyes.

**"You should have kept that to** **yourself,Toboe." **Kiba grumbled, padding after the two tracks, Cheza at his side.

**"This one cannot smell anything, Kiba."** Cheza spoke softly for the first time that day, her voice having a dream-like quality to it.

_Because you're a flower,_ Toboe thought to himself, but following Kiba and Cheza all the same. He wasn't quite sure now that what he was smelling was really food. His suspicions were confirmed as they came upon Tsume and another fighting.

Snarls erupted from both wolves as they showcased their razor canines and glinting claws. Blood dripped from both once shining coats.

_-Kanade-_

A young female wolf loped cross the snowy plains, enjoying the stinging cold wind across her face, her paws leaving light indentions in the snow. She wasn't built for extreme freezing temperatures like this, but over a couple years of living here, she had gotten used to it, and even kind of liked it. It was a wonder she had managed to actually survive here. Her natural,mulitcolored fur wasn't exactly the best camouflage for hiding in the snow.

The wolf halted abruptly, her tail frozen straight out. Strange scents were floating up from downhill. Wolves, she was sure it. And was that...lunar flower? No, it couldn't be. There was no way a flower could survive in something like this. It was probably just her imagination, it had to be. She shook out her fur, discarding unmelted snow from her pelt. The smells were getting stronger.

The four different wolf scents were still there but so was the flower's. The last one, she guessed, was just a hallucination; nothing more, nothing less. The wolf scent... well, if she left them alone, they would most likely pass on. If not, then she could finally have an excuse to give her claws a much needed sharpening. She let her muscles relaxed and her tail fell low again.

Although she didn't exactly need to hide, as she was sure that the wolves were just pups having lost their way and were scrounging for food, the thought of shelter was quite appealing.

The female wolf padded over to small cave in the snow that she had found a couple days ago. Normally, she could only stay in a shelter for a couple days before the snow filled it in. This one had only lasted a few days but Kanade, the wolf, was pretty impressed at the way it held up.

She could now hear pawsteps pounding up the and closer they walked toward her shelter, but they paused only half a second in the entrance before moving on. The scent was fading ever so slowly and when Kanade was sure it was distant enough, she removed herself from the cave. She cautiously looked around to see if they had left and sighed, flopping down onto the cold snow. She hated other wolves. Vicious, they were.

A tearing sensation ripped through the back of Kanade's neck unexpectedly. She was lifted off the ground and thrown into a rock. Snarling, she stood up, her muscles taut and ready to attack.

A gray wolf stood meters from her, his head raised. **"Thought you were a rabbit."** he said, obviously disappointed.

**"Sorry t****o disappoint you!"** she snarled, not caring what he thought. He had attacked her for no reason. She would return the favor. Kanade leapt for him and sunk her claws deep into her back, her sensitive hearing picking up other pawsteps and the tearing of flesh. The metallic scent of blood filled the air and more wolves, about three, appeared in the distance. And to think she thought they were pups.

|The Pack + Kanade|

The three wolves halted at the scene, their eyes widening as they took in the battle. Mulitcolored fur flashed everywhere, leaving a trail of blood behind it. Kiba shook his head and trotted down the slope to aide Tsume.

Kiba pounced on Kanade, his claws shredding fur and flesh. His teeth sunk into the she-wolf's back, pulling her off of Tsume.

Kanade thrashed around and managed to free herself from Kiba's teeth. She growled viciously at the four wolves, crouching down low, still willing to fight, despite her wounds. It was clear that she had not seen Cheza, yet the scent of Lunar flowers was still strong in her nostrils.

The wolves were surprised by her behavior. They were wolves just like her after all, and almost every other wolf they had met so far was pretty friendly to them, with the exception of a couple.

Hige held up his hands, trying to defuse the battle and ease the tension.. **"Hey, we're wolves too, no need to attack." **He wasn't doing a very good job.

**"Your point?"** Kanade asked, her voice filled with venom. Her eyes never left Tsume, as she wasn't going to risk another attack from him, much less another injury. Blood still flowed from the wounds on her body, but she ignored it. Her vision was going blurry from loss of blood. She stumbled a little to the left, though she hadn't even stepped.

**"Are you okay?" **Toboe inquired worriedly, seeing her stumble. His eyes showed true concern for someone he had never met and who had just attacked his pack. He took a cautious step toward her.

Kanade leapt back from him. **"I'm perfectly fine. I don't need any of your crappy help." **she snapped angrily, now barely able to see anything. Her mind was fogging up, making it hard to think clearly. The familiar flower scent flooded her brain. She could barely make out faint outline of Cheza. _So it was real. It wasn't my imagination. The lunar... I mean flower maiden is really here._

**"****This one will help the wolf."** Cheza said, barely concealing her excitement. She knelt down next to Kanade and whispered so that only she could hear.** "This one will help the Lunar beast.**

-End of Chapter 1-

**_A/N _**_So... should I write more? Or drop it? Please tell me in your review! Oh and I know I didn't give a clear description of Kanade so I'll just tell you now. Her multicolored fur is made up of natural colors. Black,tan,silver, reddish. You'll find out why later in the story. Her eyes are jaded green with a silver ring around her pupil._


	2. Bittersweet

_Your arms around me come undone,_

_Makes my heart beat like a drum,_

_See the panic in my eyes,_

_Kiss me only when I cry,_

_Oh, your touch so bittersweet..._

**_-Ellie Goulding_**

|Kanade|

Kanade woke up to eerie silence. She tried to recall the events of yesterday, but every time a thought passed through her mind it made her head pound. Her eyelids slowly blinked themselves open, only to be greeted by blinding light. Or rather, what she took as bright light. Outside, thick clouds covered they sky so that no light could shine through, but what little light did manage to come down, reflected off of the snow, making the frozen wasteland much brighter than it actually was.

_Oh great, they left me in a cave, _she thought grumpily as her eyes finally adjusted to the now dim light. She was no longer near her current shelter and was in a cave who the hell knows where.

A sharp pain shot up from her leg and Kanade gasped in horror. Her legs were no longer the mulitcolored shades they used to be but were in fact longer and a pale cream color. Human legs.

She raised her hands to her face and inspected them closely. Where were her claws and her fur? It was freezing outside and she was wearing... were those shorts?! Patches of red were spotted along her legs and back.

**"This one could not heal you very well." ** A soft voice spoke out from behind Kanade, making her jump. Another stab shot up body and Kanade winced and gritted her teeth. Her eyes landed on the person who spoke. The flower maiden. All of a sudden, the events of yesterday came flooding back into her mind.

The fight, the wounds, the scents, everything came back. Kanade opened her mouth to say something but stopped when a metallic taste entered her mouth. No wait. It wasn't metallic. It tasted... bittersweet. Was her mouth bleeding? She had never tasted blood like this before. Her nose twitched ever so slightly and her eyes widened.

**"I can't smell you anymore!"** she exclaimed, surprised that she couldn't smell Lunar flower anymore.

Cheza nodded.**"This one knows that. It is important for the lunar beast to survive, therefore she must be completely unsuspectable when she uses her human illusion. This one cannot open paradise if the lunar beast is only thing you can smell is your own blood." **she recited.

**"How do you know all of that?" **Kanade whispered, shaking her head. A couple seconds later, she mentally face-palmed herself. _Oh, right. She knows everything I know due to our being from the same lunar_ flower. Unlike Cheza though, Kanade had not been given to the government for study. In fact, she had been a secret kept from everybody.

Kanade remembered hearing those exact words from Darcia the first, who created both herself and Cheza. When Darcia decided to keep her a secret, he told her these words. He had intended to keep Kanade but she had escaped. It really was all that hard or dramatic really.

**"Kanade isn't my real name." ** she admitted, trying to change the subject.

**"This one knows."**

**"It's actually Masami. But since Darcia gave it to me, I discarded it and picked up this one instead. I like it very much. The playing of musical instruments."** Kanade supplied, smiling sheepishly. She was starting to grow used to the human body, although the shorts were extremely uncomfortable.

A piece of ice outside cracked and a face appeared in the entrance. Red-brown hair was the first thing Kanade spotted. She felt her temper starting to rise at the fact that she had been eavesdropped on but she reminded herself that she could tolerate anybody as long as they didn't have white hair.

Toboe walked into the cave. He didn't appear to have heard anything. **"The lunar flower scent is especially strong in here."** he commented, as he sat down on the floor in wolf form.

**"How do I go back to my wolf form?"**she inquired, wanting to escape the cold. _How did humans survive like this?_

Toboe shrugged. **"You still are a wolf. It's just an illusion. Just think about being a wolf I guess."**

_Well, that was helpful, _she thought sarcastically. She concentrated on the mental image of her as a wolf. A couple seconds later, she looked down and saw the familiar shades of brown and gold mixed with red and silver.

**"Why is your fur like that anyway?"** Toboe asked curiously. All of the wolves he had met so r were normally colored and their fur wasn't the same color as their hair.

Kanade mimicked Toboe's shrug. She honestly never knew and she never cared. She liked it and that was really all that mattered to her.

It was Cheza who gave Tobie an answer.** "Her fur responds to the color of the hair on her human illusion."**

**"I've never heard of that before."** An icy calm voice echoed from the front of the cave. Kiba meandered in, his face as blank as it almost always was. He eyebrows knitted together the strong lunar flower scent hit him. His eyes focused and locked on Kanade.

Kanade tensed as he stared her down. He knew something, she was sure of it. Her nervousness was coming off in waves but no one in the cave could sense it due to the flower.

Kiba's eyes left Kanade but she still had the lingering feeling that he was suspicious of her. The tension broke as Hige and Tsume walked into the cave.

Upon seeing Tsume, Kanade felt a low growl start in the back of her throat, only ti be cut off by Hige.

**"So you want to join the pack?" **he asked, a grin spreading on his face.

Tsume scoffed.** "She couldn't join us even if she wanted to. I'm not sure she'd be able to last this freezing wasteland."**

**"Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure I whooped your ass yesterday."**

**"You fainted!" ** he accused.

**"I passed out. There is a difference." ** I corrected him and turned to Hige. **"I would love to." **she said maliciously, grinning evilly at Tsume. She still never got even with him for attacking her yesterday, she could tell by his lack of wounds. Now she would make his life hell.

Her head snapped up suddenly,a single thought running through her head. **"What does your blood taste like?" **she shot at Kiba.

**"Like metal..." **he said, raising an eyebrow at the strange question.

Kanade pursed her lips and marched out of the cave. She paused when she realized no one was following her. **"Are you coming?"**

The other five trotted out of the cave. Hige's stomach growled and Tsume rolled his eyes.

**"Where are we headed, anyway?" **Kanade wanted to know, still mullingbover the taste of her blood against everyone else's.

**"To Paradise."**

_**A/N **I didn't get any reviews yet, but that's okay. I'm going to try and start updating this every week with a new chapter, but with school and everything going on, I might not be able to make that quota. I would appreciate it if you guys would leave some reviews! They really help me decide what to do with the story but if I have no opinions to go on, then this story is going to suck even more than it already does. Just take some time to type out some criticism or something. No big deal right. Last thing before I end this note, I would like to give a shout out to the user MxM, who was the first user to favorite my story! Thanks a lot an I look foward to seeing your first fanfic!_


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